Illness

It's been a busy few months.
Unfortunately our Grace has been unwell for a number of weeks. It all started on the Queens birthday public holiday back in June when Grace was unwell with gastroenterits. The vomiting subsided after a few days, but unfortunately Grace continued to have a very sore tummy, and after several visits to the doctor, we took her to hospital. Many investigations took place, and for a number of weeks, it was thought that Grace was suffering from crohn's disease. Poor Grace was very sore, couldn't eat and lost a lot of weight. Investigations concluded at the end of July with an endoscopy and colonoscopy and this confirmed that Grace did not have crohn's. Praise God! What a relief. The pain was caused by something called 'Nodular Lymphoid Hyperplasia' of the Terminal Ileum. Basically the glands in her bowel had gone into overdrive in response to a virus, causing swelling of the lining of her bowel. It had occured in the part of the bowl called the terminal ileum (where the small bowel joins the large bowel) and this is a very common place for crohn's to start.
Grace's tummy aches have gradually started to settle down now, although she remains tender at times. She is also picking up lots of colds and sore throats as her immune system has taken such a whack, but we're so pleased to see her on the mend, and we're all looking forward to welcoming our first lot of visitors in a few weeks.